Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Apple granted patent for 'fine tuning' input taps, AppleInsider reportsA patent granted to Apple by the USPTO involves a method of highly granular user interface manipulations by tapping on the side of an iPhone to "nudge" onscreen items with great precision, reported AppleInsider. Reference Link

PayPal initiated with an Underweight at Piper JaffrayPiper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster started shares of PayPal (PYPL) with an Underweight rating saying increased competition could pressure the stock's multiple over the next 6-24 months. Underweight is Piper's equivalent of a sell rating. Google's (GOOG) Android Pay and Apple's (AAPL) Apple Pay will give consumers a "real alternative to PayPal" for the first time, Munster tells investors in a research note. In addition, interest in payments from Amazon.com (AMZN) and Facebook (FB) bring potential for more digital wallet offerings, the analyst notes. Munster set a $30 price target for PayPal, which began trading yesterday following a spinoff from parent company eBay (EBAY). Shares of the online payment system closed Monday up $2.08 to $40.47.

Apple July weekly volatility increases into Q3 and outlook Apple July weekly call option implied volatility is at 56, August is at 31, October is at 26; compared to its 52-week range of 15 to 36, suggesting large near term price movement into the expected release of Q3 results on July 21.

Samsung most popular smartphone maker in Q2, TrendForce saysSamsung (SSNLF) was the most popular smartphone maker in the second quarter, even though the smartphone market has started to slow down, according to data from research firm TrendForce. Smartphone shipments will grow 8.2% year over year in 2015, though that's down from the previously anticipated growth rate of 11.6%, the report says. Samsung has led in smartphone shipments with a second-quarter growth of 26.8%. However, Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge's annual shipment forecast has been marked down repeatedly. TrendForce has also revised Samsung's annual smartphone shipments downwards to 45M units this year. As Chinese vendors are taking more shares of the low- to mid-range product market, Samsung's ability to reverse its fortune may hinge on the success of its Galaxy Note 5. If this device is able to attract consumers with upgraded specs and new features, then Samsung will avoid the high possibility of negative shipment growth for this year. Apple (AAPL) rode on the popularity of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in this year's first half and achieved a remarkably strong shipment result in the off-peak season. The next-generation iPhone due to be launched this year offers no major changes in appearance, but Apple has given the device a new A9 processor and upgraded its memory to 2GB LPDDR4 for the first time. These improvements along with the Force Touch module and a camera featuring a possible resolution of 12MP will give the next iPhone a huge boost. Thus, TrendForce's iPhone shipment forecast for this year continues to be very positive with a high growth of 15% upwards. Lenovo (LNVGY) has fallen to No. 6 in the global shipment ranking and is expected to see a 20%-30% decline in this year's shipments. Lenovo's market share did not double as anticipated after its takeover of Motorola in 2014. Moreover, Lenovo did not have a well-defined product positioning strategy and the brand faced strong competition from challengers offering lower-priced smartphone models.

Analysts down on Apple Watch sales, AFP reportsCertain analysts have said that Apple's new smartwatch is not a mainstream hit due its disappointingly low sales figures, AFP reports. A study from Slice Intelligence suggests that Apple Watch orders have decreased 90% since the week the device made its debut, the report says. In response, BMO Capital Markets said it told investors that they were "disappointed" and reduced their estimate for Apple Watch sales in the upcoming year, the report adds. Richard Windsor at Edison Investment Research said that even if Slice is off the mark about the plunge in Apple Watch orders, it was evident that the wearable has sold way less than even conservative expectations, AFP says. Reference Link